Who got most votes?Vice president Al Gore got a quarter of a million more votes than governor George W Bush in an incredibly close race.

So it's president Gore now?No. He still needs to win in the tightest race of all, in the state of Florida. The contest there was as close as it could be, with the first count indicating that Bush won by less than 1,800 votes out of 6m cast.

So why isn't Bush president? Because there has been a recount across the state. That put the two candidates even closer together and led some parts of the state to begin a hand recount of the vote which may yet put Gore ahead. Tangled in a mass of recounts and legal cases the final result from Florida may not be known for days.

But why does Florida matter so much? Gore got a majority of the votes across the US Because US presidents are not elected directly but through an electoral college. In 48 of the 50 states, the candidate who finishes top collects all of that state's votes in the college (in the two oddballs, Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who comes second is given one of the college votes as well). As things stand, neither Gore nor Bush has yet achieved a majority in the electoral college.

How is the electoral college organised?The college has 538 seats. A candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to win. Roughly, college votes are allocated to states by population. As the largest state, California has 54 votes in the electoral college. New York is second with 33. Seven sparsely populated states, plus the District of Columbia, have three votes each, the minimum allowed.

Who got to vote? All US citizens aged over 18 have the right to vote - although this is qualified by a range of conditions, including, in some states, the long-term loss of voting rights by anyone sent to prison (a clause which has disqualified many poor, black citizens in the southern states). Most states allow voters to register to vote until 10 days or so before polling day and, in recent years, the process has been simplified. Americans can apply to register online and even when they renew driving licences.

How did it work on polling day? Again, the rules vary from state to state: but almost everywhere, voting is a different experience from the same process in Britain. For a start, only 1.7% of voters use British-style ballot papers. Traditionally, Americans vote using mechanical levers (a bit like adding up on an old-style cash register). About a fifth of US votes are still cast this way, but computer technology is taking over. Whichever system is used, the votes are counted quickly. Since polling stations close early in the evening, the result is often declared surprisingly early. Adding to the complexity, though, are America's multiple time zones. Exit polls from some eastern states were available before voters have finished choosing candidates in the west. Many observers believe this had a big impact on the result.

What happened after the polls closed? The votes were counted and results declared state by state. Most international attention focused the presidential race, but Americans have also voted on a huge range of other jobs, including some state governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives and local officials such as police chiefs. In some states, voters also took part in referenda on contentious local issues.